A Senator named McCain told Reagan it was a stupid idea. That is, this Multi-National Peacekeeper force, and he was right.

My husband survived. This 25th Anniversay. We celebrate.

Bubba Dawg

10-11-2008, 08:36 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombing

A Senator named McCain told Reagan it was a stupid idea. That is, this Multi-National Peacekeeper force, and he was right.

My husband survived. This 25th Anniversay. We celebrate.

I salute your husband and all the ones who served there. 25 years. My God.

LibraryLady

10-11-2008, 08:37 PM

I lived in Beirut until I was 17. It used to be a wonderful place full of fantastic people. It is so sad to see what hatred and terrorism did.

I am so thankful that your husband survived. We were stationed in Frankfurt in 1983 and they brought the remains of the Marines there for identification. That was a horrible time.

d_va

10-11-2008, 08:56 PM

Beirut Bombing (1983) As one of only a handful of legislators to vote against sending Marines to Lebanon during Reagan's administration, McCain enjoyed national attention for the first time — a side effect that he recalled as bittersweet: "Whatever confidence it gave me was offset by a nagging sense of something close to shame that my opposition had had little greater effect than to profit me personally by raising my national profile."(p. 92)

Less than a month after the vote was passed to deploy the Marines, terrorists bombed the soldiers' barracks in Beirut, killing 241. A week later, Congress voted for a withdrawal: "We left Lebanon to the Lebanese and anyone else crazy enough to want a piece of it. Those responsible for the killing of our marines escaped punishment. And to this day we are living with the ramifications of our defeat." (p. 99)

From: http://www.time.com/time/2007/candidates_books/mccain/

Thanks guys. There's quite a link between this event and 9-11....we must not forget.

d_va

10-11-2008, 09:09 PM

more backstory:

A truck bomb ripped through the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut 20 years ago this week, marking the first major assault in a two-decade terrorist war of embassy bombings and plane hijackings that culminated on Sept. 11, 2001.
The shocking attack killed 241 U.S. servicemen in a single strike — more than died on the deadliest day of fighting in Vietnam, this year's invasion of Iraq or the entire 1991 Persian Gulf War.

And it gave terrorists a major victory. The bombing drove the military from its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and provided a blueprint for attacking Americans. The retreat of U.S. forces inspired Osama bin Laden and sent an unintended message to the Arab world that enough body bags would prompt Western withdrawal, not retaliation.

"There's no question it was a major cause of 9/11," said John Lehman, the then-secretary of the Navy, who today is a member of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Thank you and thank your husband tremendously for his sacrifice and service. 220 of my fellow Marines perished in that cowardy action and we must never forget to honor their memory.

Teetop

10-18-2008, 11:33 AM

I remember that time well, I was stationed at Ramstein AB in Germany. We took many of those injured to different places to try and help them out, cheer them up or just be and ear to listen to them. Months later, they still had a look of shock in their eyes.